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Tuesday, 21 October 2014

Wendy Williams, executive producer of the upcoming Lifetime biopic 'Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B', feels that addressing Aaliyah’s personal life, is just as key as her contribution to music.

Many people don't agree. Fans have boycotted the film and her family have reportedly hired lawyers to halt it. The issue surrounding Aaliyah's alleged marriage to her mentor and producer R. Kelly (when he was 27 and she was 15) has always been a touchy subject. It's understandable why her family would not want this entire scandal played out on film.

Williams talks about that scandal receiving major exposure in the film: "This movie is the first movie we’ve produced and it’s a very big deal. I was not originally apart of the production of this movie but you know when I do ‘Hot Topics,’ I’m just an observer like you. We sometimes tend to criticize except I have a purple chair. So the Aaliyah movie was already being produced and announced and everything and they wanted girls…anyway they were doing things wrong. I was like, ‘Look, if you’re going to make this Aaliyah movie, you gotta get it right, Lifetime. I love you, you’re good at wives who stab their husbands movies, but you gotta get this Aaliyah movie right.’ I was very popular on the radio for Aaliyah’s rise and untimely death. I want to hear about R. Kelly. I want to hear about Missy Elliot. I wanna not just hear about R. Kelly. Don’t skate over it. This needs to be a big plot line. I want to know what her father said when 16-year-old Aaliyah brought home 28-year-old man. I want to know what her mother said. I want to know what her brother said. How did Aaliyah get started? And how did this R. Kelly thing affect her career?"

Curiousity will not avert my eyes from this film. I am just wondering how blurred the lines between fact and fiction will be. Her family did not approve of the film and would not have openly described the conversations that went down when they first discovered their under-aged daughter was having an intimate relationship with a grown man.

Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B, premieres Saturday November 15th at 8PM on Lifetime.